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@dooks
i was a pedicab rider for two and a half years so punctures were a nightly occurance for me.
i just thought i'd mention it as it kind of highlights the rolling resitance vs puncture resistance debate. as a pedicab rider every minute off the road was lost earning potential so i got pretty slick at fixing flats and fanatical about tyre characteristics and the trade off between speed and puncture-resistance. being quick didn't actually mean you made any more money than the slow guys but it did make a whole lot more fun.
my cab was one of the rob brock built recumbant quads, so you're talking, four tyres, double the rolling resistance of a standard bike. add two or three passengers to that and you really start to pay attention to rolling resistance, most of the riders ended up going for these verrry heavy, knobbly nokia snow and ice tyres (they had holes in them for the spikes!) but they were painfully slow. christ the thought of pulling three overweight americans up charing cross road with 4 of those bastards at 35 PSI is bringing back some interesting memories.
aaanyway, after much effing about with various high pressure skinnys (that went pop every other mile and rattled the hell out of the cab) i ended up going for some middle ground-ish conti tourers. i'd still expect maybe a puncture or two a night but they were fast enough to be fun, comfortable enough for the passengers and easy to get off for repairs (the nokias when they did go often required another pair of hands to get back on the rim). I think tyre technology is a lot better now that it was ten years ago (when i was pedicabbing) so i'd be interested to see what most of the guys are using now. i notice quads have gone out of favour too. there were only six pedicabs in london when i started. must be over a hundred now.
with a road bike that is essentially just for commuting and shortish fun rides, punctures aren't really a major issue for me. but like someone said above, i'd rather not be messing about fixing them needlessly. i don't want anything that's going to noticably slow me down but i'd probably err on the side of durability over rolling resistance these days. the contis that came on my flyer seem okayish but i've had two flats in two months as opposed to none in 18 months on my mtb with schwalbe kojaks. i'm in no big rush to bin them but i'll definitely be looking for something with better reinforcement when i do wear them out.